Artist Shanti Govender seeks answers to the body's mysteries through a creative process, writes Sbu MkwanaziUnless you are into tattoos, or are Kim Kardashian, chances are you do not consider your body an amazing artwork. Through her exhibition, From Body to Being, Shanti Govender disagrees."When we are ill or faced with a medical trauma, such as cancer, we see ourselves as mere specimens, and doctors do the same. It is a cold and clinical encounter, but we forget we are more than just bodies," says Govender, whose mother succumbed to scleroderma, a condition where the skin hardens and tightens."We are also spiritual beings. I do not mean religion when I refer to spirituality, but rather connecting with our deeper selves. That is why some people go through a life-changing experience and react differently: some go into depression and shut down, and some use the incident to live a purposeful life."Govender studied fine arts at Wits University, then joined the corporate world. This changed with the suffering and loss of her mother, forcing her to ask questions: "Why am I alive?" and "What is my purpose?"She left her job and went back to the world of the arts."So many answers come through the creative process and most of us do not know that the body holds so many answers. These are only tapped into when we connect with ourselves on all levels. By using acrylic works on paint, I investigate and represent the body's various organs and systems to discover and uncover the body's inner world, overflowing with intelligence, wisdom and energy."I also used beads that reflect and capture light, so that the audience can touch the works and engage with the pieces. Most of us might not know this, but the body is full of colour and this is yet more confirmation of it being an exquisite artwork, and art has the power to heal," she adds.Women's month had a role in the choice of artists and collaborators she features in her exhibition. She uses women's voices in a conversation on art, medicine, spirituality and healing."Writer, producer and photographer Charlene Maslamoney passed away in 2013 from cancer but she achieved the most in the time after she was diagnosed. Through her book and film I'm Not Done Yet - Allowing Possibilities, she shares her experiences of living with terminal cancer."Also in the art space is Shelley Barry, a filmmaker, poet and lecturer who has worked as a disability rights activist. Most notable is a documentary A Trinity of Being, which explores cinematography from the perspective of a wheelchair user. She was left paralysed after she was shot during taxi turf wars in Cape Town."Lastly, I also collaborate with storyteller and medical doctor Tindile Booi who has worked in multiple medical fields and programmes including HIV research and psychiatry. She channels messages of healing through her storytelling.""From Body to Being" is on at the Wits Adler Museum of Medicine until October 8. For more information visit www.wits.ac.za/ health/adlermuseum..